Resilient base for containers



Aug. 4, 1 M. H. M KUSICK RESILIENT BASE FOR CONTAINERS Filed Oct. 23. 1961 United States Patent 3,143,243 RESILIENT BASE FOR CONTAINERS Meredith Hall Maclfusick, Springfield Township, Akron,

Ohio, assignor to The Firestone Tire 81 Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Oct. 23, 1961, Ser. No. 146,715 1 (Ilaim. (Cl. 220-69) The present invention relates to containers and in particular is directed to a resilient base for pre-mix containers.

A pre-mix container is designed to hold fluids under pressure, such as carbonated beverages, and is generally cylindrical with dome shaped ends or end configurations approaching a dome. The combination of the cylinder and its dome shape ends constitutes a compromise to the ideal pressure vessel, a sphere since it is not considered practical to fabricate and subsequently handle and store a spherical container. Obviously, a dome shaped end or bottom wall on a container will not permit the latter to stand upright, therefore, it is necessary to attach a suitable supporting structure or means to the container.

One type of support employed in the art has been an auxiliary member having a substantially flat bottom which may be made of wood, rubber, plastic or any other suitable material. These auxiliary members are secured to the container by some suitable method such as by the use of adhesives, or in the case of rubber or plastic, by ad hesives or by curing to the surface of the domed bottom wall.

Another type of support is a metal skirt extension or rim which is secured in a suitable manner to the container or formed integral with the container as the latter is being fabricated. This type of support has certain disadvantages such as presenting sharp metal edges which have a tendency to scratch and mar a floor surface if proper care in handling is not exercised, and it may cause inadvertent injuries to personnel handling such supported containers if the latter should bump against the legs and ankles of the personnel. Another disadvantage of such support is the noise made when the container is moved about or set up on the floor.

The previously described metal skirt supporting structure is the type to which the subject of the instant invention relates.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a resilient base which will mechanically adhere within the supporting structure of the container without the application of adhesives or without the necessity of curing the resilient base to the bottom surface of the container.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a resilient base for giving support to the recessed domed bottom wall of a container, such as a pre-mix container.

Another object of the invention is to provide a resilient base which will compressibly fit within the bottom recess of a pre-mix container and project beyond and protectingly overlap the flanged rim edge of the container.

Other objects inherent in the nature of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the container art from the drawings and the description which follows.

The resilient base of the present invention preferably comprises an annulus of rubber or the like which fits within the metal skirt on the container base, said annulus having a peripheral groove interlocking with an internal band on the skirt, the top of said annulus abutting the bottom Wall of the container and the bottom of said annulus projecting beyond the container skirt.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view which illustrates an exemplary pre-mix container in the bottom of which fits the resilient base.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged bottom plan view of the resilient base.

Patented Aug. 4., 1964 FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2 of the resilient base showing a fractional cross sectional view of the bottom of the container in which the resilient base fits.

FIG. 4 is a detached top plan view of the resilient base illustrating the drain channels.

The resilient base 10 may be fabricated from rubber or any synthetic elastomer or any other material which in general has the same properties as natural rubber. It has been found that an elastomer having a durometer of -':5) is preferable.

FIG. 1 illustrates a representative pre-mix container 12 and FIG. 3 illustrates in detail the pertinent portion thereof necessary for an understanding of the invention.

The pre-mix container 12, which is used to contain fluids under pressure for human consumption, is usually fabricated from a sheet of stainless steel due to its corrosion resistant qualities as well as its inherent durability. It is generally provided with a skirt extension or rim 14, which may be fabricated separately from the container and be of a different material or the same material, or it may be formed integral therewith as shown in FIG. 3. In the preferred embodiment disclosed, the skirt extension is fabricated from the same sheet of stainless steel as the subsequently formed pre-mix container and is thereby substantially co-extensive with the body 16 thereof.

The dome shaped end or domed bottom wall 18 is preferably inserted through the lower end of the cylindrical container body 16 and abutted against the interior shoulder 29 shown in FIG. 3, and secured by fusion welding in the vicinity of the exterior indentation 22 in the body 16.

The purpose of the skirt extension 14 is to support the container in an upright position and protect the domed bottom wall 18 from dents and other damage. The skirt extension is usually reinforced by a stiffener band 24, which may be formed of the same kind of material as the skirt extension but of a heavier gauge. The band conforms with the interior surface of the skirt extension and may be secured thereto by sport welding. The bottom edge as of the band is preferably flush with the bottom edge 28 of the skirt extension at all points and the combined edges constitute an inwardly flanged rim edge.

The foregoing description serves merely to illustrate an exemplary environment for the use of the invention and does not per se constitute a part thereof. Obviously, other types of containers having a similar recessed bottom arrangement, as shown in FIG. 3, would be suitable for the use of the invention.

The resilient base It is in the form of an annulus and constitutes a circular apertured base. It has a dished or beveled top seating surface 30 which slopes radially inwardly, as may be observed from FIG. 3. The beveled surface is designed to seat comformably against the contour of the domed bottom wall 18 of the pre-mix container.

The beveled top or annular seating surface 30 is circumferentially bordered by a narrow flattened surface 32, the purpose of which is to sealingly bridge the gap 34 formed by the juncture of the domed bottom wall 18 and the skirt extension 14. This prevents undesirable collection of dirt and Water below the top surface of base 1%) within the skirt extension 14. For purposes of claiming the invention, the narrow flattened surface 32 will constitute a part of the beveled top or annular seating surface 30.

The seating surface 30 is further provided with a plurality of equally spaced transverse drain channels 36 which are opened at the top, slope radially inwardly and downwardly, and are designed to be aligned with the drain holes 38 in the pre-mix container skirt extension which are shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. The transverse drain channels are formed to extend into the inner and outer vertical wall surfaces 40 and 42, respectively, of the resilient base .10. The channels serve to prevent the collection of liquids and dirt in the bottom of the container when it is inverted for washing purposes.

The inner and outer annular vertical wall surfaces, 40 and 42, are substantially concentrically formed and define the maximum inside and outside diameters, respectively, of the resilient base, and are joined by a substantially fiat bottom surface 44.

The outer vertical wall surface 42 is provided with a peripheral recess, groove, or rabbet 46 in its face which is designed .to interlock with thestitfener band 24 and the bottom edges 26 and 28 of the band and the skirt extension, respectively. It may be observed from FIG. 3 that the rabbet is wider than the stiffener band in order to provide a clearance 48. This enables the resilient base to be manually inserted and removed; and is designed to permit the application of this base to most of the pre-mix containers presently in the field which may have somewhat wider stiffener bands.

The portion or band 50 of the outer wall surface 42 of the resilient base below the recess or rabbet 46, which overlaps and serves as a protective cushion for the bottom edges 26 and 28 of the flanged rim edge, and the portion or band 52 of the outer wall surface 42 above the recess or rabbet 46 are in the same vertical plane when the portion 52 is in a state of non-compression. Thus, the resilient base will have a compression fit in the recessed bottom of the pre-mix container. The combination of the compression fit, peripheral groove, recess or rabbet 46, and the stifiener band 24 prevents the resilient base from dropping off or being easily removed from the container; and eliminates the necessity of the use of adhesives or curing to the bottom surface of the container.

The substantially flat bottom surface 44 is preferably provided with a series of concentric annular grooves 54 which serve as treads, although obviously the treads may be formed in any other suitable manner. The bottom 4 surface of band of the outer wall below the peripheral recess or rabbet may be said to constitute, in eflfect, a radial extension to the substantially flat bottom surface 44 of the resilient base.

What is claimed is:

In combination, a cylindrical container comprising; a cylindrical container body portion, a domed bottom end wall continuously circumferentially joined to said body portion, a cylindrical skirt portion surrounding said domed bottom end wall and extending axially downwardly from said container body portion, a plurality of circumferentially spaced drain holes in said cylindrical skirt portion axially disposed at points where said domed bottom end Wall is circumferentially joined to said con tainer body portion, a circular stiffener band joined to the radially inner surface of said cylindrical skirt portion along the lower peripheral edge thereof, a resilient annular base member compressibly fit within said cylindrical skirt portion, a circumferential rabbet on the radially outer surface of said annular base member interlockingly engaged with said circular stiffener band, a beveled top surface on said resilient annular base member frictionally abutting said domed bottom end wall, a plurality of transverse drain channels in said beveled top surface aligned respectively with said spaced drain holes in said cylindrical skirt, and a substantially flat bottom portion of said resilient base member extending axially below and overlapping said lower peripheral edge of said cylindrical skirt portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

